The Checkers stumbled in their return from the holiday break, falling to the Penguins 4-1.
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Charlotte dominated the shot battle throughout the night, outshooting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 31-16 in the contest, but Penguins netminder Joel Blomqvist had the Checkers’ number from the start. He finished the night with 30 saves - not seeing his clean slate blemished until Lucas Carlsson’s breakthrough late in the third - and helped shut down each of Charlotte’s five man advantages.
On the other side of things, the Penguins were able to chip away at the Checkers offensively - kicking off the scoring in the first, book-ending the middle frame with goals to blow things open and then coming through with an empty-net dagger to put an end to Charlotte’s comeback hopes.
NOTES
Tonight was the first leg of Charlotte’s second three-in-three of the season … The loss snapped a six-game point streak for Charlotte … The Checkers are 2-3-0-0 against the Penguins this season … The Checkers have allowed a power-play goal in each of their last four games … The Checkers have three goals on their last 30 power-play opportunities … Uvis Balinskis has points in four of his five games with the Checkers … Patrick Giles, Patrick Khodorenko, Alexander True, Brendan Perlini, Will Reilly, Calle Sjalin, Dennis Cesana and Mack Guzda were the scratches for Charlotte
